The Show:Taboo, Season 1, Episode 2
The Moment: The period filth
The War of 1812 is nearly over. James Delaney (Tom Hardy) has just returned to England after 12 mysterious years in Africa. He has many enemies, as did his late father, who left behind angry creditors.
Delaney and his crooked lawyer Thoyt (Nicholas Woodeson) have called the creditors into a courtroom, where they mob behind the bar. Delaney glowers at them from the front. “The son does not inherit the debts of the father,” Thoyt cries.
Suddenly Delaney stands, opens a leather satchel and tips its contents onto a table. Coins rain down. “That is 219 pounds and four shillings,” he growls. “My father’s debts total 219 pounds and four shillings. So you will be paid. But first you will form an orderly line.”
The mob quiets. “But first you will form an orderly line,” Delaney repeats, more slowly but as menacingly as a dragon. The men form a line.
I hope if Hardy ever wins an award for this, the first person he thanks is his makeup artist. Never has there been a more scrofulous show. Every character, including King George, is perpetually disgusting: Their cheeks are streaked with soot, their knuckles red from punching things. What teeth remain are green or rudely capped with clots of silver. And the tattoos! I hope some of the many on Hardy’s body are real or else he’s spending days in makeup chairs.
But man, it’s effective. Hardy’s glower is scary no matter how it’s deployed. But it’s really powerful when rimmed with blood and grime.
Taboo airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX Canada and is available on demand. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.
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